San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
ART OF VITICULTURE, WINE MAKING TAUGHT IN RAMONA
20-month course includes hands-on activities and field trips
A Ramona winery is offering a viticulture and wine-making class that will cover pruning grape vines, harvesting grapes and making and bottling the wines.
The 2023 Vines to Wines class will be the third class of its type that Hatfield Creek Vineyards & Winery has offered over the past several years, said Elaine Lyttleton, the executive winemaker.
“Our graduates have gone on to buy wineries, start up vineyards and wineries, or simply increased their knowledge and appreciation of wine tasting,” Lyttleton said.
The 20-month course starting Jan. 28 will take students through every aspect of wine grape growing and winemaking, she said. Students who complete the course can celebrate by drinking the wines they help create.
Enrollment is limited to 12 people. The fee is $695 per person for seven classes and nine work days with lunch provided each day. Wine, a graduation dinner and a certificate are included.
Sign-ups are recommended by Friday and can be made by emailing Lyttleton at elaine@hatfieldcreekvineyards.com or emailing Hatfield Creek’s Assistant Winemaker Susan Pacheco at smpmail1117@gmail.com.
Students in the class get handson instruction by tending one row of vines at Hatfield Creek, at 1625 state Route 78. The row is designated as Row 17 and the wine bottles produced from that row are labeled as BIN 17. By the end of the course students produce about 25 cases of a blend using a combination of Petite Sirah and Zinfandel grapes, Lyttleton said.
In the beginning, students start pruning the vines in January. The grapes are later harvested around September and then students learn the wine-making process. The wine isn’t bottled until August of the following year. Then they let the wine age a few months before drinking it, Lyttleton said.
In between work parties, students go on field trips to Hatfield Creek’s winemaking equipment and supply house in Temecula.
“Or we may help a new vineyard plant their vines to get experiences that we don’t have on our site,” Lyttleton said. “Or we might get a behind-the-scenes tour at another bigger winery so they can see how someone else operates other than our little operation.”
Lyttleton teaches the class with Pacheco and Kitty Brisendine. They call themselves “The Three Goddesses” — a name reserved for Hatfield’s Petite Sirah, Zinfandel and Syrah blend.
Lyttleton said they decided in 2018 to provide a learning opportunity for people who are interested in the industry since Ramona is a relatively new wine region.
“There are winemaking programs offered at community colleges but there isn’t a hands-on, whole process class going on in the Ramona Valley,” she said.
Students run the gamut of those who want to simply appreciate wine-tasting to those who want to start a winery.
The latter includes Steve Wilson, a San Diego native who moved from El Cajon to southern Oregon last year after buying a winery in Roseburg, Ore., with his wife, Paula. They have 11 acres planted with grapevines at the Cooper Ridge Vineyard.
“When we decided that we wanted to do this we started looking at property locally in San Diego and then moved up the coast looking for the right fit,” Steve Wilson said. “I wanted a view on some sort of hillside.”
The Wilsons found what they were looking for at Cooper Ridge, which has a view, a good microclimate for growing certain types of varietals, an established wine club and, importantly, very good wines, they said.
Steve Wilson began dabbling in wine education when he was between jobs in the software industry. He first took a series of classes in the business of wine at San Diego State University, where he learned about retailing, distribution, importing, winemaking and other business facets of the industry. He became intrigued by the winemaking aspect and got a close-up look at it in Temecula and Ramona.
He signed up for Lyttleton’s email list for harvesting volunteers while still taking classes at SDSU in 2018, and gradually took on more tasks from crushing and pressing grapes to measuring chemicals used in the process.
“It was enjoyable working with Susan and Elaine,” Wilson said. “I learned a lot there. We talk all the time and share ideas.
“Other wineries are helpful, it’s not competitive at all,” he added. “Everyone wants to help each other succeed. It’s a nice community. It’s been working out very well.”
Wilson said the Vines to Wines class has helped him communicate with Cooper Ridge’s winemaker about such things as flavor profiles, and to handle the bottling aspects that involves renting equipment.
He liked the class so much that he took it twice, once in 2020 and again the following year, to make sure he had sufficient knowledge to open his own winery. Even with the background knowledge, he said there was a learning curve because Cooper Ridge is different than Hatfield Creek.
“It’s exciting and fun,” he said of the varied experiences, from harvesting to bottling, to operating a tasting room and wine club. “You have to be on your toes all the time.”
Vines to Wines students Steve and Linda Glau took the class in 2019-20 as a way to spend time together and learn about something they enjoy — wine-tasting.
“I thought it would be a fabulous once-a-month date,” said Linda Glau, who had considered planting 18 vines of their own but scrapped the idea. “Life took a turn and we decided not to do that.”
But the Glaus said the lessons they learned about pre-pruning vines, pruning, harvesting, and sampling wines during the winemaking process enhanced their experiences tasting wines at Ramona wineries. Their said their favorites include Hatfield Creek, Ramona Ranch Vineyard & Winery, Correcaminos Vineyard and Winery, Vineyard Gant James, Pamo Valley Winery, Old Julian Vineyards & Winery, and Poppaea Vineyard and Winery.
Steve Glau said the hands-on activities such as the racking process were informative. Students took wine out of containers and put them in new containers, cleaned the sediment out of the used containers, performed chemical analysis on the wines and tasted them to see if they needed adjustments, he said.
“We have a much better palate now than when we started the class,” he said. “If there are issues with the wine or the wine is young, we can taste that and understand that now.”
Part of their wine-tasting enjoyment involves reflecting on their experiences, Linda Glau added.
“When I taste a wine it reminds me of the event where we purchased the wine or we remember that time out with friends,” she said. “That’s a big part of it.”
Pacheco initiated the Vines to Wines class in 2018 to cultivate interest in winemaking and grow the number of volunteers who could help at Hatfield Creek. Her own interest stems from having a hobby vineyard at her La Costa home. In 2012, she also earned a Certificate of Proficiency in Wine Technology at Miracosta College after studying wine-tasting, vineyard management and winemaking.
Lyttleton was in the same vineyard management class as Pacheco, and over the years their business and personal friendships grew.
“It’s a lot of work but with a good group of people so it’s a lot of fun and that’s why I’m doing it,” said Pacheco, who harvests about 500 pounds of grapes from 60 vines and produces about 150 bottles of wine a year. “I don’t sell it because I’m not licensed. We drink it here, I give it away as gifts, I go to parties and bring wine, and I enter amateur wine competitions.”
Pacheco said the Vines to Wines class fosters a community camaraderie while teaching students how to care for a vineyard, to grow good grapes and the steps involved in bottling wines. The class offers a general overview along with specifics of growing grapes and making wine, she said.
While other classes are available, she said this class offers hands-on, repetitious experiences in such things as tucking vines within wires to encourage straight growth, pruning, putting nets on vines, and how to test sugar levels and Ph balance to gauge the perfect time to pick the grapes.
“Row 17 gives us enough grapes to make a couple of bottles of wine per person,” she said. “We harvest the grapes and go through crushing, how to ferment the grapes to make wine, press the grapes.”
The full Vines to Wines syllabus and registration can be accessed online at hatfieldcreekvineyards.com/hatfieldhappenings Events page. The first class will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 28 at Hatfield Creek. and your doctor hasn’t brought it up yet, reach out to them to schedule an appointment.
This month’s Lung Force Walk will raise funding for cancer research, advocacy and efforts to raise awareness to improve rates of early detection.
The festival will include music from STAR 94.1, a batting cage, climbing wall and interactive booths starting at 7:30 a.m., with the run and walk starting at 9 a.m. Former San Diego Padres outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. will kick off the opening ceremony, followed by a Zumba workout led by San Diego State University cheerleaders.
American Lung Association in California Executive Director Rita Redaelli said that last year, more than 1,500 walkers raised $260,000 during the event. Since 2019, the organization has raised more than $1.2 million through the annual walk, and this year, the organization hopes to surpass its goal of $280,000.
Locally, the American
Lung Association has partnered with Sharp Grossmont Hospital to raise more awareness of preemptive cancer screenings and overall lung health. The nonprofit also recently received a $750,000 grant from Bristol Myers Squibb, a pharmaceutical company, to improve cancer screenings among Black and Latino San Diegans.
“It has been documented that (Black and Latino populations) are most at risk, and the least to get screened in the State of Lung Cancer report,” Redaelli said. “We’re needing to really encourage their awareness about early detection of lung cancer.”
In addition to attending the in-person event, those interested in participating in the walk can also do so virtually. For more information, visit bit.ly/lungforce2023, email Development Manager Ellen Sherwood at ellen.sherwood@lung.org or call (619) 213-1310.
lauren.mapp@sduniontribune.com